Even with the thresholds above, African-Americans have been able
to elect representatives to both bodies in almost every election in the
1960’s and 1970’s – with between 5-10% of the total population. Hence,
African-Americans held a higher percentage of political seats than
their proportion of the total population.

Once African-Americans crossed over 10% of the Voting Age
Population in 1980, they have always had representation on both bodies,
sometimes with even two representatives on a body (1971: two city
councilors, 1993 & 1997: two school committee members, 2001: two
city councilors & two school committee members).

PR has allowed women to achieve much greater representation than
in other methods of election. Between 1997 and 2001, the City Council
and School Committee had female representation between 1/3 and 2/3 of
each body.

Choice Voting has survived legal challenges, most recently in
1996. The Supreme Court of Massachusetts deemed Choice Voting to be
constitutionally valid. Note though, that the legislature has repealed
the Plan E form of PR government, with Cambridge made an exception.
Other municipalities may not now switch to Choice Voting. There have
also been 5 referenda to repeal Choice Voting, but they all failed.

Racially Cohesive Voting

African-American voters in Cambridge tend to vote along racial
lines (as to other groups, such as Italian-Americans). Despite the
existence of political “slate” endorsements, African-American
candidates on different slates will all receive support from
African-American voters. In 2001, Denise Simmons and Ken Reeves’ 1st
choice voters most often put the other candidate as their 2nd choice.

Precincts with high African-American populations also gave the
most support to African-American candidates. In 2001, Ward 2/Precinct 1
overwhelmingly gave its 1st choice votes to the African-American
candidates for City Council and School Committee. This pattern appeared
throughout the city.

This cohesive voting allowed Simmons and Reeves to both be
elected in 2001, as Ethridge King, a third African-American candidate,
transferred enough votes to the other two, to elect them.

Choice Voting vs. Traditional Voting

In Choice Voting, in 2001 Harding and Price (two African-Americans)
were both elected to the school committee. Under a simulated
winner-take-all election, Price would lose. In 1999, Ken Reeves (the
only African-American candidate) won a city council seat with a margin
of 314, due in part to transferred support from losing candidates.
Under a simulated winner-take-all election, his lead shrinks to 45
votes, so that a change in 23 votes would cause him to lose.

In Detroit, there have been three mayors in the past two years and the current one has come under scrutiny. Perhaps a system like instant runoff voting will help bring political stability to motor city.